It's The Law

John 20:19-29
1 Corinthians 5:6-8

Ken Whitt               April 15, 2007

You may recall that last Sunday, Easter, the scripture lessons were read by my daughter Lauren and her husband Jeff. For dramatic effect, after each had completed the reading, they stepped back as if finished and then stepped forward and said, “Do we believe this?” “Do we believe this?” “This,” of course, referred to the resurrection. Do we believe the resurrection stories?

We ask this same question of each of today’s scripture lessons. “Do we believe this?” “Do we believe this?” There are certain laws that govern the physical universe. These are God made laws established at the creation of the world. Among these laws, is there a law for resurrection? Is resurrection woven into the fabric of the universe?

What are the laws that govern the universe? Is resurrection among them?

I was thinking about ways to illustrate this question about the laws that govern the universe. A few minutes ago I discovered that I had left a balloon in my jacket pocket that I had intended to use a few weeks ago as a sermon illustration. This red balloon can help to demonstrate a law that God established to govern the universe. I blow up this balloon. If I was to let go of the balloon the balloon would go flying around the sanctuary. The law governing this is, “To every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.” (You have probably noticed that I have not let go of the balloon. That is because of another law that governs the universe. “The preacher who lets loose a red balloon to fly around the sanctuary will be given his head on a platter.)

Obviously, it is important to know these laws, and not to break them. I spent a considerable amount of time this week learning about the four laws of thermodynamics. Fortunately we do not have to understand them in order to obey them.

However, the laws that govern the universe as we know them do not tell the complete story. The way that things appear to be in the physical universe is not actually the way they are. Take this pew, for example. It appears to be solid and for the purpose of our daily lives it is solid. If I hit my relatively fragile hand against this durable wood I would hurt my hand. I am well advised not to do so. But, the reality is that there is almost nothing about this pew that is solid. It is made up almost entirely of energy and space—mostly empty space. The actual physical matter in this pew is only a tiny fragment of the total volume. Things are often not what they appear to be and often much more is going on than meets the eye.

I began to understand these things and their implications for how we see spiritual reality about seven years after I completed seminary and for the first time in my life became deeply interested in learning how to pray. A friend suggested I read a book by Morton Kelsey, an Episcopal Priest and professor of education at Notre Dame. One reviewer of this book wrote, “The first half of this book should prove to be a landmark in Christian philosophy in this century. It throws down the gauntlet to theologians and philosophers of our time. And then in the second half of the book, Father Kelsey makes a careful presentation of twelve ways in which the individual can discover spirituality for themselves.”

Kelsey’s book was my introduction to an understanding of reality that takes God and miracles and angels and resurrection seriously. He introduced me to the fact that the laws that appear to govern the physical universe only describe part of reality. Kelsey helped me understand then, and scientists who study quantum mechanics and nuclear physicists continue to teach, me that we live in the midst of a vast “cloud of unknowing.” We live in a universe filled with mystery and imbued with spirit. The moment we begin to examine the physical world in its largest and smallest manifestations—the cosmos and the atom—the supposed laws of the universe begin to be broken like branches snapping in the wind.

Everyone has heard of the law of gravity. We depend on it every moment of our lives. It prevents us from going flying off into space. But no one is certain how this law works. We depend on it but we do not understand it. Earlier this week, while writing this sermon, I typed, “law of gravity” into Wikepedia, the on-line encyclopedia. Do you have any idea what I came up with? “Law of gravity” is the 15th episode of the 7th season of the television series CSI, Crime Scene Investigation. It doesn’t tell you anything about gravity. If you want to know about gravity, you have to type in gravity or gravitation and gravity and gravitation are different, and there are many different theories about how gravity works and some of those theories are only understood if you see them under the general umbrella of Einstein’s general theory of relativity. If you try to understand that theory of how the universe works, it will probably blow your mind.

To introduce us to how we understand the universe, Morton Kelsey says that there are 5 hypothesis that take us towards deeper levels of truth and eventually lead us towards an understanding of a universe that is deeply mysterious and spiritual at its core.

Hypothesis 1 is the way Greek scientists understood the world. Greek science found the universe composed of: earth, water, air and fire. We all learned that back in school.

The Hypothesis 2 tries to take into account an additional set of facts learned first by the alchemists and then the chemists and astronomers and physicists. The universe is filled with a great variety of elements, not just earth, water, air and fire. And they discovered principals of physical organization in a universe totally determined by laws.

Then comes Hypothesis 3 as scientists in the disciplines of nuclear physics and quantum mechanics tried to take new observations into account. Albert Einstein and many others began to find that we live in an infinitely diverse universe where the organization of matter and energy are governed by probability rather than logically proven laws.

Einstein was once asked how he came up with all of his formulas and his answer was, “I meditate and the numbers dance in front of my eyes.” “I meditate and the numbers dance in front of my eyes.” Meditation—that is how Albert Einstein sought insight into the laws that govern the universe. I remember learning along the way that the molecular structure of the DNA molecule was revealed in a dream. Insight and revelation are the ways we learn about life in this universe.

Then there was Hypothesis 4 as Sigmund Freud and many others began to see physic and spiritual energy impacting physical reality.

Finally, Hypothesis 5, Philosopher Tielhard de Chardin and Psychotherapist Carl Jung made additional observations that explained the intersection of material and non-material realities. I don’t expect that to make complete sense. I am just trying to introduce you to the fact that as I read and learned and experienced God in a myriad of ways, I began to really believe in miracles and angels and the power of prayer and I came to believe in resurrection. These spiritual realities are woven in the fabric of God’s universe. They are not violations of the laws of nature. They reveal the true nature of the laws that govern the universe.

If you want to explore this territory further, I would be glad to give you a copy of Morton Kelsey’s book, Encounter With God. It is out of print but on the internet you can shop used book stores across the country.

Once again, what are the laws that govern the universe, and do they include the possibility of answered prayer, and miracles and angels and eternal life and resurrection and so on? Do they include love conquers hate, violence is overcome by peace, it is better to give than to receive, you save your life by giving it away, and resurrection defeats death?

What are the laws that govern the universe? One of the greatest Christian writers of the past century was C.S. Lewis. He wrote books that were in the category we call Christian apologetics, trying to help non-Christians understand what Christians believe.

One of his best and most popular works is the Chronicles of Narnia. In the first of six book, C.S. Lewis tells a story called The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, in which four children, by passing through an old closet, discover a new world called Narnia. It is governed by laws and principles that in many cases differ from ours—like animals talk—but some of the most important spiritual laws parallel ours. The books are delightful reading. I read them to my kids. There’s a section in here in which C.S. Lewis tells the story of Aslan, who represents Christ. Like Jesus, Aslan willingly sacrifices his life for one of the children who is guilty of betrayal.

Recently The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe was produced as an outstanding movie. When the two girls, Lucy and Susan, encounter the resurrected Aslan they cry out in joy and disbelief. Aslan tries to explain things to them. Aslan tells them that If the wicked witch had better understood the “deep magic” (the deep truth that actually governs the universe) she would have know that if one without any sin willingly gave his life for another guilty of treason the wheels of the universe would turn backwards and even death would be defeated.

What if that is the way it is? What if sacrifice and love have that kind of power?

Do the laws that keep the fabric of the universe tightly woven include resurrection and miracles, answered prayer, the power of God to transform our lives in whatever way God chooses?

I’m going to tell you a story, actually I’m going to try to complete one. The purpose of the story is to answer the question, what difference does it make? What difference does it make if we live in a universe where life transcends death and resurrection is part of the fabric of life? What impossibilities become possible because we live in a universe where God rules?

I began the story last Sunday when I told you on Easter that I had had an encounter with an angel at a train station in Samaria, Romania in April of 1992. While I was on my way to preach at evangelistic services at the Golgatha Baptist Church in Arad, Romania we missed our stop and ended up far away in the small town of Samaria. We quickly learned, after desperate attempts, that we did not have the resources needed for the return trip. I learned in that train station a severe spiritual lesson; “Everything I have, I do not need and everything I need, I do not have.”

Still, we did get back to Arad. That is where the angel came in. It was Sunday afternoon and we arrived just in time for me to preach at the regular Sunday evening service. But the short drive back to Pastor Bulzan’s home after the service found me getting more and more frightened and upset—until I could not hold back the tears.

Repeatedly during the service my friend, Titi Bulzan, had reminded his church how important the evangelistic services that would begin on Monday evening were to the church and the city of Arad. He kept telling them that his friend from Columbus, Ohio, Pastor Ken Whitt, would provide magnificent preaching. The pressure was building. He reminded his church of the brokenness of their city, of the continuing hostility between the former communists and the Christians. In these evangelistic services, God would bind up the wounds of the city and make peace. The pressure was building.

How was I going to have anything to do with that kind of healing? I didn’t even know about the problem until that very moment. On the way home in his car Pastor Bulzan kept talking about these expectations. Arad was a community broken by conflict, division and hostility from many years under communism. The church had pulled out all the stops by inviting many of these former communist party leaders to the evangelistic services. I had no idea I was walking into that storm. The church was making a bold move towards reconciliation and I was to be their spokesman. I was blown away. The tears poured out.

Can you imagine feeling that kind of responsibility for a city? Jesus wept like that for Jerusalem. Do we know of any cities that are badly divided and need someone to care that deeply for their wholeness?

Pastor Bulzan kept building the pressure and I finally exploded and yelled at him, “You can’t expect me to do this. You told me nothing about what is going on in your church and city.”

It wasn’t long before Pastor Bulzan began to repent, and apologize for laying this trip on me and as we talked further and then prayed together, we began together to understand that if anything of that nature, healing of wounds, if anything like that was going to be happening at the evangelistic services it would be a mighty work of God, and the most we could do was show up. Suddenly it dawned on me, what I had learned at the train station was what I had to know in order to preach at the evangelistic services. “Everything I have, I don’t need, everything that’s needed here, I don’t have.” But what if there is a God, and what if there is a God working in a universe where resurrection is a governing principle? Where God can heal all the diseases?

So, I showed up and I did my first sermon on Nicodemus the first night, and at the end of the service, I went back and I was standing at the door, and a man about my own age came by, straggly beard, but pretty well dressed, and he said to me, “I am Nicodemus”. He said it in kind of broken English, but I got it. “I am Nicodemus”, and I just looked at him, and I couldn’t talk to him because of the language barrier. He couldn’t talk to me anymore, but he said, “I am Nicodemus”.

Who was Nicodemus? Nicodemus was a member of the ruling powerful religious elite that was in conflict with Jesus. He came to see Jesus in the middle of the night. Doreen Frandes saw himself as such a powerful leader who had rejected Jesus. He was a former communist leader who had persecuted the church in Arad. He also was and is the director of Arad Philharmonic Orchestra.

During the altar call after the first evangelistic service and the sermon on Nicodemus, Doreen Frandes came forward and accepted Christ, and about six months later he was baptized at the Golgotha Baptist Church. On the day of his baptism the church was packed with Doreen’s friends, many of whom were also former communists. Other former communists were also baptized and their friends came too. For the members of the church, there was standing room only. By the way, Doreen Frandes became their organist and there is so much more to tell you than I can share today. Maybe there will have to be a part 3 to this story. On the second night I preached on the Samaritan woman at the well, and the response to that sermon was also a stunning surprise..

So what do you think? Within the laws which God established to govern the universe, can God heal a city? Can God heal an entire city? Can God mend the brokenness of a community? Can God cause people to celebrate their diversity instead of despising each other? Can God reconcile North and South? Can the schools open in peace? Can God reconcile a city?

Not by my doing. Even our mayor doesn’t know how to do that. He may have written the book about it and he may long for it but he does not have the power to compel it, But what if we live in a universe that is governed by God and by principles of resurrection and new birth and new beginnings. What if we live in that kind of a world, and what if we pray for that to be done, and what if we don’t stop praying for it? And what if we keep on believing that we live in that kind of world, and we don’t have to be divided from each other?

It happened in Arad, Romania. Every time I talked to Pastor Bulzan over the next couple of years he told me that the city wide reconciliation was continuing. And if you do not think this bridging of divides matters, just look around the world and see what has happened when God’s people have not allowed God to make peace. See Northern Ireland and the centuries long war between Catholics and Protestants. Remember the genocide in Nigeria and Bosnia. Look at what happens when the people do not believe that God can and must end the divisions.

I believe. I believe in the resurrection of Jesus and in the resurrection of hope in the midst of every despair. Everything is possible. Everything can be. We don’t live in a universe that’s controlled only by physical laws, and we certainly don’t live in a universe where the final word is spoken by satan and its minions. We live in a world that is governed by God and God’s love and God’s power. In such a world even our lives and our city can be healed. That is what I believe.

May it be so.

Amen.